Vincent Gouttebarge

Our position is clear that the CPA is extremely disappointed with the current direction of anti-doping in professional cycling. Did you know that cyclists are the only athletes in the world who pay out of their own pockets to fund extra doping controls, long-term sample storage and for data analysis? This financial burden is a direct consequence of our sport’s historical past. While modern cycling is drastically cleaner today, active riders are paying for the mistakes of previous generations. Is that fair? Within the SafeR initiative, members frequently claim that crashes happen because riders lose focus or look down at their bike computers. But consider the human cost of the current doping system, think about how you perform at your normal day job after only four hours of sleep, or after being woken up right in the middle of your REM cycle at 2 am for a blood test. Now, imagine that happening during a Grand Tour, between two crucial mountain stages after two full weeks of racing. The pressure on your shoulders. I am not saying this was the cause of Jonas Vingegaard's crash, but doing this to an athlete during the most important race of the year, after 2 weeks of racing does have some impact on their daily performance or could just sit in the back of their head during the stage. It isn't just Jonas, its all professional cyclists must be available 365 days a year. The 1-Hour Slot: During their designated one-hour daily window, riders must be at the exact location stated in their whereabouts. The Other 23 Hours: Outside that slot, DCOs (Doping Control Officers) can still show up unannounced. If a rider isn't home, because they stepped out to get a coffee or went to the park with their child which they decided during the day. They are required to provide proof of where they were and why. Failing to justify their whereabouts can be logged as a missed test. Riders are terrified of getting a missed control. I have seen cases of riders that had to get a statement from resturant owners, with the bill, that they were out having dinner not in their 1-Hour slot. Now how can they get a written statement from their 3 year old child if they went to the park? To make matters worse, the ADAMS application riders must use to submit their location data is notorious for technical glitches and frequent downtime. We have said, Quality Over Quantity. The riders are directly funding the ITA, and we have repeatedly argued that increasing more tests is not the solution, it is a waste of resources. Instead, those funds should be invested in upgrading testing laboratory equipment. Currently, equipment standards vary across different accredited labs. Some are far more advanced at detecting trace elements than others. We want a Quality over Quantity approach, State-of-the-art lab equipment capable of detecting the absolute smallest traces of banned substances. Which means fewer but more precise tests that catch real cheaters while reducing constant harassment of clean riders. If there are advances in equipment testing, this would increase the detection window of finding banned substances, which would result in a more efficient approach, not needing these tests in the middle of the night, less stress and workload on the riders and a greater chance of catching cheats. But this is not the direction where it is heading. The direction of the funding is not going to improve the laboratory equipment, but to increase the number of tests, power data monitoring and all of this means more work and stress for the riders. They have it hard enough. We want dopers to get caught, we don't want to harsses clean riders and get given a presentation with the total number of tests being increased year over year with fewer positives. We have to consider if we want to continue to contribute to a system that is not going in the direction that is not more efficient, to catch cheaters, harasse less clean athletes & not treat the riders like criminals.